Huhne and Pryce get 8 months

[Knock-on]

Really??

I have a lot of sympathy for Chris here. He has lost his career, reputation and respect for a silly lapse of judgement. Of course, he tried to cover it up but did plead guilty (although I don't think he had much choice)

But really. 8 months inside??? Is he that much of a danger to society? A man of previous good character who has never been in trouble before. What is jail going to teach him that he hasn't already learnt through his mistake. What punishment will this exact that he hasn't already suffered and what chance that he will reoffend?

Isn't this OTT?

As for Pryce, beware a woman scorned but she should have remembered that if you go looking for revenge, to dig 2 graves.

[rjbetty]

Wow that does seem relatively harsh.

It was certainly a bad thing he did. I do think we need to think twice before attacking him because most of us seem to regularly lie to get what we want or avoid trouble. It kinda amazes me the holier-than-thou attitude the majority seem to take with things like this. Though he did wrong, I don't think it was anything worse than people do all the time...

[BDunnell]

Really??

I have a lot of sympathy for Chris here. He has lost his career, reputation and respect for a silly lapse of judgement. Of course, he tried to cover it up but did plead guilty (although I don't think he had much choice)

But really. 8 months inside??? Is he that much of a danger to society? A man of previous good character who has never been in trouble before. What is jail going to teach him that he hasn't already learnt through his mistake. What punishment will this exact that he hasn't already suffered and what chance that he will reoffend?

Isn't this OTT?

As for Pryce, beware a woman scorned but she should have remembered that if you go looking for revenge, to dig 2 graves.

Very sensible posts like this, Knock-on, genuinely make me feel bad about our disagreeing so vehemently on other matters.

I agree completely with you in all respects. The sentence is way out of proportion to the seriousness of the offence. Far worse, in my opinion, is the fact that he used a mobile phone while driving — for which he lost his driving licence subsequent to the speeding incident that led to all this trouble. Yes, it's deemed to have been a perversion of the course of justice, and ordinarily I'd view this offence most seriously, but when it's just over speeding points the description, to say nothing of the sentence, seems extraordinarily excessive.

The prison population is too large anyway, and imprisoning people doesn't do sufficient good as it is, let alone in circumstances like these. So, let's think about the circumstances in which we ought to use custodial sentences. Is Chris Huhne a danger to the public? Well, when driving while using a mobile he probably was, but this isn't what he's been put away for. Is he likely to reoffend? No, and prison sentences in the UK are already spectacularly ineffective at combating reoffending. Does it serve as a reminder to other people not to try and pass their speeding points on to someone else? Yes, but we shouldn't be using prison sentences for that purpose. I can see no argument for imprisoning Chris Huhne other than following precedent set in similar cases. This precedent I think is too stringent and needs reviewing, because a custodial sentence is surely inappropriate.

And the worst thing of all? The utter stupidity underlying the case — the fact of not wanting points on his licence because he thought losing it would be problematic in his efforts to gain selection to a Parliamentary seat; a licence he lost a few weeks later owing to another offence.

[BDunnell]

I do think we need to think twice before attacking him because most of us seem to regularly lie to get what we want or avoid trouble. It kinda amazes me the holier-than-thou attitude the majority seem to take with things like this. Though he did wrong, I don't think it was anything worse than people do all the time...

Some politicians and some media outlets go on about the 'law-abiding majority' of citizens. This, as you say, is nonsensical.

One is tempted to say that the police, so keen today to stress the seriousness of Huhne and Pryce's offence, often get away with far worse themselves.

[ioan]

Imagine the 1 month prison that three employees of the communal waste collection company in Vienna have got for allegedly picking up waste that was not paid for to be removed. The prejudice was estimated to having been approximately 1750 Euros!
Justice is blind, I tell ya.

[D-Type]

The only good point is that they have both been given the same sentence for an offence they are both equally guilty of.

The sentence does seem harsh particularly considering how lightly other MPs were punished for their sometimes blatantly fraudulent expense claims.

[Dave B]

"I lied and lied and lied and lied".

That could be the Lib Dems election slogan....

[donKey jote]

Compare this to the head of the Spanish Automobile Federation for example, who doesn't even see why some would call for his resignation after having his license taken for speeding on one occasion, or drink-driving on another

Spain is different.
They should elect a Spanish pope... at least they'd know he'd NEVER resign.

[henners88]

When you consider you can steel a car, drive the police on a 10 mile chase and get a 12 month suspended sentence, it really does show how out of proportion judgements like this are. The judge obviously used this guys public status to make an example, but in other cases they are afraid to hand out stiffer sentences for worse crimes when dealing with the average Joe.

[SGWilko]

When you consider you can steel a car, drive the police on a 10 mile chase and get a 12 month suspended sentence, it really does show how out of proportion judgements like this are. The judge obviously used this guys public status to make an example, but in other cases they are afraid to hand out stiffer sentences for worse crimes when dealing with the average Joe.

Indeed - half of the oiks that steal cars are disqualified anyway or have lost their licence - so what sentence do they get - disqualification again.

Doh! Like that's gonna deter 'em, init?